‘But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror (or ‘beholding intently') the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.'
The literal order of the words is ‘but we all with unveiled face the glory of the Lord beholding as in a mirror.' So we could translate, ‘beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord (manifested) with unveiled face (singular)'.
So the first question must be as to whose face is here seen as unveiled. Is it our ‘face' (each of our faces) that is unveiled, or is it the face of the church as a whole, or is it the face of the Lord Jesus Christ which is unveiled revealing His glory? The thought of the unveiled face of the glory of Christ ties in with the contrast of Moses whose glory was veiled in 2 Corinthians 3:13 and with the reference to the glory of God which is in the face of Jesus Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:6. Then is brought out the continuing impact of continually seeing the glory of Christ, even if not fully, on our continuing Christian lives.
On the other hand the context has already moved the veil from the face of Moses (2 Corinthians 3:13), and from the Law which represented Moses (2 Corinthians 3:14), to the veiling of the heart (2 Corinthians 3:15). Thus the veiling of faces, and the unveiling of the faces of believers, is only the next step. In 2 Corinthians 4:3 it is the Good News which is veiled, but as that Good News is of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6) it may be seen as supporting the idea of the unveiled face of Jesus Christ.
If the thought is of the unveiling of the glory of Christ, we may see us as gazing in rapture upon His unveiled face, even though not seeing Him in the fullness of what He is, and thus being made more and more like Him. We become what we fix our attention on (compare 1 John 1-3), and our attention is on Him.
But if the thought is of the veil being removed from our faces, then the idea is that once the veil has been removed we become like that happy person of 2 Corinthians 3:16. For we are all (all we who are Christians) are then seen as beholding with unveiled face the glory of the Lord, just as Moses did when he went into the presence of the Lord after taking of the veil. We are no longer of those whose understanding is limited by a veil, our veil has been removed. And like Moses we can enter the presence of God unveiled. And there we can behold the glory of the Lord, although only as in a mirror, for the fullness of His glory would be too much for us.
In the final analysis the significance is the same. There is now nothing which hides us from seeing the glory of the Lord, save the fact that we are limited by what we are able to receive.
And the result of our beholding His glory is that we are transformed into the same image, we are made like Him, moving from one level of glory to another (Philippians 3:21), and all this we have from the Spirit of the Lord. ‘The same image.' We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).
‘Moving from one degree of glory to another.' This may mean that as we polish the mirror by growing in grace and reading His word, the glory of the Lord that we behold increases, or it may mean that our glory increases stage by stage until we achieve full glory at the rapture or the resurrection. Or it may include both, for the idea is that the more we see of His image, the more we become like Him, until we are conformed to His image (Romans 8:29; Galatians 4:19). This is in contrast with those who fail to see the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, because their minds are blinded (2 Corinthians 4:4).
The alternative possible translation ‘reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord' provides a beautiful picture, but does not fit so well into the context which is based on Exodus 34:29-35, especially as the idea of the veil continues.
‘Even as from the Lord the Spirit.' This would confirm that he has Christ as the life-giving spirit of 1 Corinthians 15 in mind in context. He is not saying that the Lord is the Spirit, in the sense of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. But that the Lord is active Spirit, just as God is Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is Spirit. All work spiritually within man.